Cartridge feed mechanism



April. 4, 1933.

A. DABRASKY El AL 1,903,288

CARTRIDGE FEED MECHANISM Filed Feb. 23, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheefi 1 INVENTORS Afi'ust Dabr'asky ljaurg'a W.E1aat.t y

ATTORNEY April 4, A. DABRASKY ET AL :ARTRIDGE FEED MECHANTgM Filed Feb. 23,

1932 2 Sheets-Sheet LNVENIDRS e W.E|eatt VWFQM ATTORNEY AUGUST DABRASKY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, END GEORGE W. BEA, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS TBIDGE mm m; :=1

(GRANTED UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1883, AS AMENDED APRIL 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmentalpurposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

The subject of this invention is a cartridge feed mechanism particularly adapted for multiple gun mounts and is a modification of the mechanism disclosed in Patent No. 1,842,446 of January 26, 1932.

In thepatent belts of ammunition are carried on the base of the gun mount and are. elevated through the tipping cradle to the guns through the action of recoil cradles. In" this arrangement the guns must be relatively high and as a consequence the mount must be of excessive weight to afi'ord the requisite stability.

With a view to providing a low mounting for the guns it is proposed in the present invention to supply the belts of ammunition from the sides of the cradle and conduct them sufficiently high above the guns to enable the covers of the guns to be raised in correcting malfunctions.

The invention also contemplates a novel feed mechanism operated by the breech bolt on recoil and including driving pawls on the driving side of a clutch mechanism so that upon interrupting the drive the belt may be advanced or retracted. I With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details'of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of: what is claimed without departin from the spirit of the invention.

Ti'g. 1 is aview in front elevation of the cradle'of a multiple gun mount equipped with the improved cartridge feed mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation thereof with parts in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Y

Fig. 3 is a view in rear elevation of the feed mechanism for one of the guns.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fi 2.

Referring to Fig. 1 there is shown a multiple gun mount consisting of a. pair of similar cradles A-A supported by means of trunn'ions 6 in the four upright arms 7 of a rotatable base 8.

Each of the cradles consists of a base plate 9, side plates 10, and dividing plate 11 andv a cross-rail 12. In each of the compartments thus formed there is a machine gun 13 secured in a conventional manner to the base plate by a front coupling. 14 and a rear coupling 15 (Fig. 2).v

The feed mechanism for advancing a belt of cartridges to each gun includes a casing B positioned above the cradles A and having legs 16-16 secured to the cross-rail 12 and to the plates 10 and 11 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The casing is formed with a lower trackway 17 and an uppertrackway 18 leading respectively to the outside and the inside gun through auxiliary trackways 17a and 18a. At the outside of each cradle A the trackwa s are connected to depending volute guides 1 b and 18b carrying entrance rollers 17 c and 180. The volute guides are secured together and the inside one is attached to .the outside plate 10 of the cradle by means of a bracket 19. Rollers 20 are associated with the upper trackway 18 while one or more rollers 21 are provided for the shorter lower trackway 17 Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the casing B consists more particularly of a'front plate 22' and a rearplate 23 adapted'to carry a belt advancing mechanism for each of the guns 13. This mechanism comprises a sprocket 24 terminating short of the rear plate 23 and rotatably supported in an anti-friction hearing unit 25 seated in an annular flange 26 on the front plate 22 and confined between the plate and a retaining ring 27 secured thereto. The sprocket is held against axial displacement vby means of an integral collar 28 and a crank 29 engaging opposite faces of the bearing unit. The crank is secured to the sprocket through a key 30 and is retained thereon by a nut 31.

The unsupported end of the sprocket adjacent the rear plate is formed with an internal cone 32 arranged for driving engagement by an external cone 33 on a clutch sleeve 34. The sleeveis rotatably supported in an anti-friction bearing unit 35 carried by a housing 36 that is secured to the rear plate 23 by screw bolts 37. A. shaft 38 passing throu h the sleeve has a nut 39 on its rear end a utting against the rear face oi the sleeve While the forward end of the shaft projects Well into the sprocket and is threaded into a nut 40 having a sliding fit in the sprocket. A spring 41 embracing the shaft and confined between a washer 42 at the inner face of the nut 40 and an internal flan e 43 on the sprocket acts to normally hol clutch sleeve 34 in driving engagement with the sprocket.

The clutch sleeve is movable out of engagernent with the sprocket by means of a lever 44 having the usual fork 45 riding in a groove 46 of thesleeve. The upper portion of the lever passes between spaced cars 47 on the housing '36 and terminates in an angled ere trcmity 48 that is normall held against an actuating lever 49 by a spring 50. The lever 49 is i'ulcrumed on a pin 51 mounted in'the 'ears 47 and has an angled toe 52 normally bearing agliainst the lever 44 at a point intermediate. t e an led extremity 48 and the spring 50. By ti ing lever may be moved in opposite directions to disen age the clutch sleeve.

The c utch sleeve is formed With a collar 53 having ratchet teeth 54. On the lower side these teeth are engaged by holding pavvls 55 mounted in a carrier 56 that is ri ,idly secured to the housing 36 by the screw olts 37. On the upper side the teeth are engaged b driving pavvls 57 carried by a lever 58 having an enlarged hub 59 whereby it is mounted on the clutch sleeve between the collar 53 and the nut 39. As shown in Fig. 4 the avvls 55 and 57 are in groups of three, distri uted over the pitch of theratchet teeth, so that in the event of failure of one of them only one third of the Width of a tooth Will be lost before the next pawl takes hold.

The lever 58 is connected to a link 60 through a universal joint 61 and the link in turn is connected through a universal joint 62 with a pin 63 threaded into a lever 64. 'lhe lever 64 is mounted through an anti-friction bearing unit 65 on a fulcrum 66 supported in cars 6767 on the base plate 9 of the cradle. The upper arm of the lever 64 is provided vvith a cam slot 68 adapted to receive the re ciprocating bolt handle 69 of the machine gun. The operation of loading-a belt 01 cartridges into the gun consists in manuall insorting the end of the belt into one o the volute guides, 17 b or 186 and then moving it into the corresponding ,trackway 17 or 18 until the first cartridge is engaged by the sprocket 24. The volute guides and tracle.

Ways are of open design for the purpose oi lightness and to accoodate the hand of second handle 70 is the is arrangement the actuatitvveen said nut an neonate the leader in this 0 eration. Rotation of the sprocket through t e crank 29 advances the belt the remaining distance to the gun and inserts the end round into the feedway.

For the purpose of manually retracting the breech bolt to initially load the gun a provided opposite the handle 69.

During the recoil stroke of the bolt the handle 69 working in the cam slot 68 of the lever 64 cause the lever 63 to rock and elevate the link 60 and associated lever 58. Since one of the driving pawls 57 on the lever 58 is engaged with the ratchet vvheel'the sprocket Will be partially rotated to advance the belt of cartridges. On the counterrecoil stroke of the bolt the levers will be returned to initial position and the holding pawls 55 will prevent counterrotation of'the sprocket.

lit Will be noted from Fig. 3 that the feed vmechanism is arranged to overfeed so that suficient slack will be present to insure a free and easy delivery to the gun. Excessive overieeding will be compensated by the slipping of the clutch due to back pressure on the sprocket.

The position of the pawls on the driving side of the clutch mechanism provides an advantage in that the sprocket maybe disconnected from the actuating mechanism for the purpose of advancing or retracting the y each trackway for advancing a belt of ammunition and means operable by the guns for intermittently actuating the advancing means.

2. In a gun mount, a cradle, a pair of guns carried by the cradle, a pair of associated trackvvays extending from one side of the lllii:

cradle to the guns, the trackvvay for one gun a passing above the other gun, and means carried by each trackway for advancing a belt of aunition.

3. lln a gun mount, a cradle, a pair of guns carried by the cradle, and means for uiding a belt of ammunition to each gun, said means extending from the side of the cradle to a position overhead the guns.

4. ln cartridge feed mechanism, a cartridge belt ide, a sprocket mounted in the. guide and aving an internal cone at one end, a sleeve mounted in the do and hav- 1 mg an external cone adapts to engage the internal cone of the sprocket, a shaft passingthrough the sleeve and engaging one end thereof, a nut on the inner end of the shaft the sprocket a spring confined bed the sprocket, ratchet teeth on the sprocket, holding pavvls engagizo lllll neoaae'a ing the ratchet teeth, a lever mounted on the sleeve, driving awls carried by the lever and engageable wit the ratchet teeth, and a lever for axially moving the sleeve.

5. In cartrid e feed mechanism, a cartridge belt gui e, sprocket mounted in the guide, a sleeve mounted in the guide and having a clutch engagement with the s rocket,

@a shaft withinthe sleeve and sproc et and having engagement with the sleeve, a spring seated on the sprocket and acting on the shaft to maintain the clutch engagement,

- teeth on the sleeve, a lever on the sleeve, pawls carried by the lever and engageable with the teeth, and means for axially moving the sleeve.

6. In cartridge feed mechanism, a support, a sprocket mounted in the support, a

driving member mounted in the 'su portand having a clutch en agement with tl e sprocket, means normal y acting on the driving member to maintain the clutch engagement, teeth on the driving member, a lever on the driving member, pawls carried by the lever and engageable with the teeth, and means for declutching the driving member.

7. In cartridge feed mechanism a belt advancing member, a driving member, means for normally maintaining a clutch engagement between said members, means for de-.

clutching the members, and means for intermittently rotating the drivin member.

8. In a cartridge feedmec anism, aisup port, a driven member mounted in the support, a driving member, means for normally maintaining a clutch enga ement between said members, a throw-out ever engagin one of said members and having an an le extremity, an' actuating lever fulcrume on 40 the support and having an a led toe, a

' spring seated in the support e acting on the throw-out lever to hold its angled extremity against an intermediate portion of the actuating lever and to hold an intermediate portionof the throw-out lever against the angled toe of the actuating lever.

9. In a cartridge feed mechanism, a support, a driven member mounted in the su port, a driving member, means for normal y maintaining a clutch engagement between said members, a throw-out ever engaging one of 'said members, and an actuating lever fulcrumed on the support and havin enga ement with the throw-out lever on 0th si es of the fulcrum.

AUGUST DABRASKY. GEORGE W. BEATTY 

